1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for maintaining an electrophotographic apparatus having at least a photosensitive member, which can ensure automatic maintenance of those components excluding the photosensitive member that need maintenance.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrophotographic apparatus exposes an electrified photosensitive member to form an electrostatic latent image thereon, develops the image using a developer, such as a toner, and transfers the toner image to a recording medium, forming an image thereon. The photosensitive member will be worn out by the repetitive exposure on a photosensitive material constituting the photosensitive member, or by its contacting ozone which is generated through the discharging of a discharger for electrification. The photosensitive member is therefore treated as a consumable component, and have to be replaced with new one if the photosensitive member becomes worn out to deteriorate the image.
Attention is paid to the number of printed recording media (e.g. the number of printed sheets) as information about the service life of the photosensitive member. A printer employing a conventional electrophotographic method therefore counts the number of prints by a paper counter using a nonvolatile memory device, detects that a count value has reached a predetermined value and displays information to this effect, informing a user of the need for replacement of the photosensitive member (see Published Unexamined Japanese patent Application No. 62-75468).
Since the paper counter is replaced with another at the time of the replacement of the photosensitive member, the paper counter is reset upon each replacement of the photosensitive member. With this paper counter, the total print number since the electrophotographic apparatus was first used cannot be counted. A mechanical counter for counting the total number of prints is therefore provided besides the paper counter to super vise maintenance periods of components in the electrophotographic apparatus other than the photosensitive member, which have a comparatively long service life, such as an electrifying section, a developing unit, a transfer section and deelectrifying section.
As described above, a conventional electrophotographic apparatus of this type can automatically check the service life of a photosensitive member, but cannot automatically manage the maintenance periods of consumable components other than the photosensitive member, so that a user has to check these periods referring to the total number of prints counted by a mechanical counter. Accordingly, the user has to always grasp the relation between the total print number and the service lives of the individual consumable components for the maintenance of these components, is therefore burdened with much work.